Application of ICH Guidelines for Studying the Degradation Behavior of Rocuronium Bromide Coupled with Stability-Indicating RP-LC Method

Non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent Rocuronium bromide was quantified in drug substance and drug product using reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method. Forced degradation studies were conducted for Rocuronium bromide in drug substance under acidic (2MHCl), basic (2MNaOH), oxidative (3% H2O2), thermal (135°C) and photolytic (254 nm) stress conditions. An Agilent H12 C18 column was used for separation using diammonium hydrogen phosphate buffer (pH 8; 0.04M)- acetonitrile (50:50; v/v) as mobile phase at flow rate of 1 mL/min. The quantification was done using UV detection at 210 nm. The limit of quantification and detection was 11.1 and 3.66 μg/mL, respectively, and the recovery percentage was 99% in drug substance and drug product. ICH guidelines were adopted for method validation. The proposed LC method monitored the degradation profile for Rocuronium bromide under various stress conditions and provided a specific LC method for its routine analysis. Besides, the MS data were used to identify all Rocuronium bromide degradation products and the possible degradation pathway was designated.